Numerous types of prior art systems have been developed for facilitating the unloading of particulate or bulk material from ships, such as the system developed by Stephens-Adamson for self-unloading lake-type cargo ships, that is ships in which a continuous hold runs substantially the entire length of the ship with a tunnel type conveyor being provided beneath the hold and running substantially its entire length where it joins with a triangular boom conveyor for off-loading of the bulk material from the ship. In such a prior art device, a plurality of unloading gates are located in the base of the hold above the tunnel conveyor and in flow through communication therewith. In the prior art Stephens-Adamson system for use with continuous hold ships, a self-unloading reclaimer having a mechanical harrow with pivotally mounted rakes is employed to assist in discharging the bulk material through the unloading gates onto the tunnel conveyor. However, this self-unloading reclaimer is not useable with a multiple hold or compartment ship, with the self-unloading reclaimer being permanently installed in the single continuous hold of the ship. Another type of prior art device for facilitating in the unloading of bulk material but which is also not removable from the hold is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,433, which discloses a vertical conveyor which operates in conjunction with a transverse raking device which moves the bulk material towards the vertical conveyor for facilitating displacement of the material from the hold. Examples of other prior art devices for use with a single hold of a ship for facilitating the self-unloading of bulk material are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,808,862 and 3,414,144. The arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,808,862 employs transverse conveyors to deliver the bulk material to a central hopper for off-loading of the material from the ship. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,414,144 discloses an arrangement in which reciprocating plows are employed to disturb the natural angle of repose of bulk material to facilitate its delivery to a tunnel conveyor located in the base of the hold. However, none of the above prior art arrangements disclose a system which may be readily employed in a multiple hold vessel. Prior art attempts at providing such devices for use in multiple storage compartment arrangements are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,458,915; 3,604,573; 3,149,733 and 775,081. To applicant's knowledge, none of these prior art arrangements have been sufficient because of various deficiencies therein. Thus, the arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,458,915 is an arrangement in which retractable scrapers may be lowered into a hold for facilitating the emptying of the hold by a central conveyor type device. However, this arrangement may not be employed where the hold has been emptied so as to cause the particulate material to be initially disposed at its natural angle of repose and can only be efficiently employed in a hold that is substantially empty. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,573 discloses an arrangement which merely facilitates in disturbing the natural angle of repose by oscillatory movement of a grab bucket. This arrangement is time consuming and there can be a considerable decrease in the rate at which the bulk material is unloaded as compared with the initial rate when the tunnel conveyor is primarily responsible for the unloading of the material. The devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,149,733 and 775,081 essentially employ buckets to empty the hold onto a central type of conveyor, which arrangement is again time consuming and does not lend itself towards efficiency in use of a tunnel conveyor system. These disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention.